New Canaan Police last week impounded 10 neglected cats from a Seminary Street home where the animals’ owner told authorities that kittens had died, records show.
At midday on Oct. 27, a Monday, the owner of the two-family home and one tenant came to police to report “a large number of cats” living in poor conditions at the rental property, according to an incident report obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request.
There were “cat feces all over the property inside and outside” and “the cats have fleas,” the property owner told police, according to the incident report, filed by Officer Sean Godejohn, head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section.
There’s “a very strong cat urine smell inside the apartment,” the owner told police, and the neighbor said “he can smell the cat urine from inside his apartment next door,” Godejohn wrote in the report.
Godejohn immediately traveled to the residence and met with the cats’ owner, spotting three cats in the windows right away.
“This officer noticed a number of piles of feces on the ground and on the porch,” he wrote in the report. “This office could see into the home through the window to the right of the front door. This officer saw a brown couch in the apartment that had a number of piles of feces on it.”
Cats also could be seen exiting the house through a window where an air conditioning unit was sitting with an open space on one side of it, according to the incident report.
“This officer observed a black and white cat with missing fur which can be a sign of fleas,” Godejohn wrote.
He added that he saw “two other cats that looked to be very thin” and “observed what appeared to be un-neutered cats.”
Asked if she’s providing medication to the animals, the woman, 71, said yes, then “showed this officer a can of insect repellent and some carpet shampoo,” the report said.
She “told this officer that she was spraying the house and not the cats with these,” it said.
Told that police could have the cats neutered, the woman told Godejohn that the animals had already been altered.
Asked whether there were any kittens, the woman “told this officer that there was but they all passed away” the report said.
She also told Godejohn that the cats belonged to her daughter and they had been taken to a veterinarian before receiving the animals, but “could not tell me what veterinarian the cats went to,” the report said.
Godejohn told the woman that he could try to help her get the cats into a rescue organization.
The following day, Oct. 28, the woman told Godejohn that she was willing to sign over the cats. Godejohn arrived that morning with Animal Control officials from Hamden and the state.
The apartment was in “terrible shape,” he said, “filled with trash and cat feces” in all corners.
“The apartment had litter boxes but they were over filled with cat feces and urine,” the report said. “The floors were very dirty. The apartment was near impossible to walk through with the amount of trash and fecal matter scattered on the floor. Every surface of the house was taken up with trash, dirty dishes and feces. The apartment had a strong odor of cat urine.”
The woman “told this officer that she took in the cats to help them find homes but was overwhelmed” and “had no money to care for the cats,” the report said.
Godejohn brought the most sickly looking cats to the New Canaan Veterinary Hospital, and had three of them checked for feline immunodeficiency virus and leukemia. They tested negative. “The cats had some scabbing and bloated abdomens indicating that they may possibly have worms and fleas,” the report said.
All 10 cats were treated for fleas and worms, and were impounded at the New Canaan Animal Shelter.
It wasn’t clear whether the animals are still there at the shelter or have been transferred to rescue organizations or rehomed—Godejohn was not immediately available for comment.
Strays & Others should step up with this one